Elon men draw Clemson for NCAA Tournament

A day after winning the Southern Conference in the second overtime of the title game, the Phoenix learned it will play host to Clemson to open the NCAAs.

The first-round game will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Rudd Field on campus. It marks the first time Elon has been a host for an NCAA Tournament event.

“We’ve seen Clemson a couple times this year but we haven’t watched them in detail,” Elon coach Darren Powell said. “We’ll prepare the team like we would for any other game. We are very fortunate that we can sleep in our own beds so we can prepare ourselves at home for Thursday night.”

Elon (15-4-2) has never won a NCAA Tournament game. The team’s first two appearances in the tournament have come the past two years. Both times, Elon has traveled to Coastal Carolina.

“It’s nice to see our name not next to theirs and knowing we don’t have to go back to Myrtle Beach,” midfielder Daniel Lovitz said.

“I’ll have to cancel those hotel reservations,” Powell joked.

Dating to 1998, Elon and Clemson have matched up six times with the Phoenix leading the series 3-2-1. Most recently, Elon topped the Tigers in 2011 by a score of 1-0 in Rhodes Stadium, which has been used by the Phoenix as an alternate home site. Overall, Elon has won the last three contests in the series.

On Sunday, the Phoenix defeated Wofford in Greenville, S.C., to earn the Southern Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Elon finished behind the Terriers in the regular-season standings.

“When your name is on that board, it’s special,” Powell said. “You know how hard it is to get in the national tournament. It’s such a difficult task to make the event so to see our name on their fills you with pride. I’m just so happy for these guys. They’ve worked so hard every day for that moment and you go back to the winning goal in the SoCon Tournament and you know what it means. You see all those guys chasing each other, it’s just a great feeling of pride for these boys and what they do. To see your name on the board, it’s always an honor to be on the board. Now to have a home game as well, they should be very proud.”

Clemson (11-7-2) went 5-4-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, falling to eventual ACC Tournament champion Maryland in the semifinals after advancing past North Carolina in the quarterfinals. Maryland is the No. 5 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

In two games this year against ACC teams, Elon went 1-1, defeating then-No. 9 Wake Forest at home and losing at Duke. The Phoenix was shut out at Duke on Oct. 22 and that’s the last time the Phoenix lost a game.

The Tigers, who are in the NCAAs for the first time since 2006, played two games this season against Southern Conference teams. With both contests at home, Clemson beat the UNC Greensboro 2-0, but fell to Furman by 2-1.

Elon is the only Southern Conference team to make the tournament field of 48. The Clemson / Elon winner earns a trip to Los Angeles to take on UCLA, the tournament’s top overall seed, on Sunday night.